Initial Findings Reveal Hidden Challenges and Costs in Customer Support Work Based on Recent Survey

Ines · 2026-03-12T11:24:51.407Z

I posted this in the #i-need-help channel yesterday, and the survey received some responses that turn out to be very informative! You can still participate if you’re interested, the survey remains open and highly benefits from as many replies as possible. I put together an article on what my research is starting to show: https://supportresearchlab.substack.com/p/asymmetric-face-exposure-in-customer My core argument is that doing Customer Support work is far more demanding than the systems evaluating it have ever been able to see, and that this invisibility has real costs for the practitioners doing it. I wanted to know whether practitioners recognized this in their own experience and what it had actually cost them. The first findings are already very telling!

jared
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Very interesting write-up. I'm curious about what your thinking will be on what to recommend next for those practitioners. For example, do you think it's possible to reverse this observation in your "harm trajectory" section: "The capacity to invest is not depleted and then restored. It is eroded and then restructured around protection. This is not a crisis. It is a slow reorientation that can take years to become visible, including to the practitioner themselves."
Ines
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Reverse - not sure. That needs more research, both theoretical and empirical, to answer. One thing that is becoming very clear though is that institutional support appears to be vital in preventing the erosion.
Ines
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The fact that this isn't notably measured in any of the performance standards I’ve come across or heard about, coupled with the anecdotal evidence I’m getting, suggests that this is an element we’re structurally bypassing as an industry
jared
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We usually don't fix what we don't measure, and don't measure what we don't notice. If the erosion is slow, as you note, then maybe the only way to effectively reverse that for an individual is to switch roles.
jared
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Your insight in that write-up is really really good. Are you sure you're not a behavioral research scientist?
Ines
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Yep, agreed. Sadly, it appears to be erosive in nature rather than depletive, which suggests that the damage persist even after a role switch.
Ines
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The nature of it erodes the self, not just the professional self.
Ines
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And no, I’m not an affiliated scientist haha! I’ve been in the industry for almost twenty years, got fed up with the lack of standards, applied my autodidact skills, and went from there 🥲
jared
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<looks up autodidact>
jared
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<then laughs at himself>
Ines
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😂
jared
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the irony of teaching myself what autodidact means...
Ines
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Hey, the effort is the reward!
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jared
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Yes!
Ines
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To answer your question though, individual restoration might be promoted by simply keeping a ‘this is why I’m proficient’ diary and reading through it after a difficult conversation. I have always suggested this for every IC under me, and have seen it help. Just didn't have the words to explain why it helps.
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